The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception (7 page)

“Well,” Cat continued “Ideally we would like a number on the order of .1 AU.
Otherwise there is a very real probability of laying down a quantum fold on top of a large physical object… with undesirable results.”

“Define undesirable”

Ken looked up at his captain with wide eyes “Bad… undesirable results. In the case of a moon or planet it would be the almost certain destruction of the Bowman.”

“That is
bad” the captain commented.

“You don’t understand Sir” Cat continued. “That would be the best case scenario.
If we were to quantum fold a sun the result would be a nova event as well as a backwash through the fold into the region of origin… That is bad”

“Acha Hey” The captain muttered. “So .1AU it is. What do we need to get us there? “

Ken and Cat looked at each other. Neither liked the suggestion they were about to offer. Finally Ken spoke up.

“Captain, we’ve thrown every trick we know at this puzzle.
We’ve ganged every supercomputer we have together and we’ve developed the tightest heuristic can to simplify the underlying program. We simply don’t know how to calculate these parameters any faster than we currently are.”

“Sir,” Cat added in a hesitant voice. “We have one more super computer we can throw at this problem...
so far the fastest computer available to humanity has not had a chance to weigh in. We’d like to give that computer a shot.”

“By all means! Why haven’t you
done it already?”

“
Sir… I’m talking about the computer in me… the AI inside my encounter unit.”

Ramchandani pushed back from the display table he was leaning over. "You're asking me to place a lot of trust in an entity I know very little about."

Cat's ear beeped. Instinctively her hand began to move to her now non-existent earpiece. 'Cat here' she thought at her virtual comlink.

'
Commander,...
' the voice was Cal's. '
I've been monitoring your conversation. I have a suggestion to offer, if you will allow me.
'

'Go ahead' she responded.

Suddenly Cal's voice filled the small conference room in engineering... coming from the intercom. "
Captain, may I join your conversation? I believe I may have an acceptable solution to your current dilemma.
"

Captain Ramchandani looked alarmed. "Has he been monitoring this conversation the whole time?"

"
Affirmative Captain. Analysis of your voice indicates a high probability that this information irritates you.
"

"Yes Cal. It most certainly does. Humans value privacy."

"
Understood. The Heshe sometimes will seek out total darkness for exactly the same reason
"

The captain continued "Does Commander Kimbridge ever have privacy?"

"
I had not considered this aspect of our interaction. I am a tool available for her use. I work best with data. However, if my ubiquitous presence diminishes her operational readiness, I can limit my analysis of available data feeds to exclude visual, auditory and tactile inputs except for those periods of time when specifically invited to access them. Will this be acceptable?
"

The captain looked towards his science officer and raised an eyebrow. She would need to answer this for herself.

Cat took the ball and answered. "Cal, that sounds perfect. I assume if I want to invite you into a conversation I can just think about it?"

"
Affirmative. Should I disconnect now or would you like to hear my thoughts on your problem?
"

"By all means continue" the captain offered.

"
The Heshe do not use heuristics to solve quantum folds within an asymmetrical hyper-field. As you have guessed, our computers are vastly superior to yours. The encounter unit within Commander Kimbridge’s body is barely more than a handheld calculator, and yet even it is more than capable of the calculations you require.
"

"Are you offering to run the calculations for us?" Ken asked.

"
That would not be the most effective use of my assets. Humanity is currently building four Bowman class vessels. Is this not true? A better use of my resources would be to provide you with the means to do these calculations on your own. There are two possibilities. I could show you how to build more capable computing devices, or I could teach you a new paradigm on which to base your calculations which would vastly simplify the nature of the calculations
."

"I would say both would be excellent solutions but the new math is probably a better immediate approach. Learning how to build faster computers in order run inefficient calculations
seems to be a bit backwards" the engineer answered. 

"Besides" Cat echoed, "new mathematical models will open up many more roads to explore."

***

The AI known as Cal sifted through his massive Heshe knowledge base and selected those technologies, manufacturing techniques and sciences, the Heshe had accumulated over the last several millennia, that were within the current capability of humanity to grasp and make effective use of. He then ran a probability profile on the technology in question and the likelihood that humanities current level of cultural development
could safely handle the technology. A handful of questionable items were removed from the list. The result, some four million petabytes of data was compressed and imbedded into Earth's fledgling Internet. All this took place in a little over three seconds... Seemingly forever but then the encounter unit that currently housed his AI was not an especially robust system with only 10 to the 14th qubits of processing power.

It took an additional three weeks, but by the end of that time Ken and Cat had fully described the High Fold Dynamics model that the Heshe taught them. Cal was of course right, the new model
greatly reduced the complexity of the hyper-fold equations. They were now able to calculate in a couple of hours’ time the hyper-fold parameter equations for a 10 light year 'hyper drive' jump within a .01 AU discrepancy... At least on paper.

Massive VASIMR drives slowly pushed the USC Bowman out of Earth orbit. The inertial dampers and gravity plating
completely hid any sense of acceleration. For a first test of the Interstellar drive the decision was made to stay within the Sol system. A jump to Jupiter was ultimately chosen. This would place the Bowman near the largest 'off Earth' USC base on the moon Ganymede.

Cat sat at her station on the bridge. Lt. Jim Cortez was at communications. Lt. Kelley Shelby, a petite
blonde woman with a southern accent, was at navigation. Standing just to the left and behind the captain was the newly arrived First Officer, an African American named Commander Jason Ruck, and at weapons control was Lt. Commander Andrew Martinescu.

Cat found herself periodically glancing in the general direction of the captain and more to the point the First Officer. Jason was a striking man with an imposing build that caught the attention of his share of the ladies.

Jason for his part caught the furtive glances from the various female members of the bridge crew but he kept his expression neutral. That said, the young redheaded woman at the science station intrigued him in more ways that he could count. The fact that she was both beautiful and brilliant hardly detracted from her fascinating history.

Captain Ramchandani turned in his seat to face communications.
"Jim, open a ship-wide channel"

"Aye, Captain. Channel open"

"Attention crew of the Bowman. This is Captain Ramchandani. For a number of years we have all been working towards a common goal..." swiveling his chair to look briefly at Cat, "Some of us, friends and coworkers and fathers... have died along the journey. We carry them with us as we take this next step to the stars. 

Soon we will be engaging the star drive. I wish I could tell you what to expect... But the reality is, I can't.
At this point we just have to trust the technology. I can tell you this... Our ability to reach the stars will be critical. Our very species may well depend on it. Do your jobs. Stay focused. Ramchandani out."

The captain looked forward and addressed the bridge. "Make sure all system recorders are online.
Let's also make sure both Lunar One and Orbital One have a direct line of sight before we engage the hyper drive"

Cat's team had already worked up the 'line of sight' numbers and knew that their jump window was just opening. "Sir, L1 and O1 are go for line of sight for another 16 minutes."

"Helm do you have a jump solution for near Jupiter orbit?"

"Aye, Sir."

Captain Ramchandani actuated his internal comlink. “Engineering, what's our status? Are we good for a short hop?"

Lt. Commander Ken Kirkland visually polled his staff and received all thumbs up before answering the captain. "Sir, all boards are green. We are a go for hyper drive."

"Very good Commander. Make ready. Set course for just outside Jovian orbit. Give me a verbal countdown and engage when ready."

"Aye, captain" Commander Ruck said. "Helm, make ready. Set course and engage on my mark... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Engage!"

Cat watched both her instruments and the forward view screens simultaneously. There was a brief flicker on the view screen accompanied by a neck jarring lurch that caused most of the bridge personnel to fly out of their seats. Cat's nanite enhanced muscles automatically compensated and she was the only one to remain seated.

Several consoles erupted in a shower of sparks and the bridge filled with the smell of ozone and burnt plastic.

"What the..." the Captain yelled as he struggled back into his chair.

"Our inertial dampeners went offline the moment we jumped. It took them several seconds to reset. The acceleration we felt was from Jupiter's gravity well." Cat announced as she manually keyed the fire suppression systems.

"Why did they go offline?"

"The inertial compensators work because hyper field generators make a reference connection to space. As we move, the generators tweak our perception of local space in such a way so as to remove inertia. When we jumped that reference connection was lost and had to be reestablished."

"Does that mean I can expect to be launched out of my chair every time we jump?"

"
No Sir. Now that we know this happens we can program the inertial dampeners to anticipate the change and cut the transition period down to a couple of milliseconds. We might feel the briefest of tugs but nothing like what we just went through..." Cat suddenly noticed the First Officer who had been standing with a single hand on the Captain's chair had been thrown across the back of the bridge and was crumpled on the floor.

"Commander? Are you alright?"
she said as she quickly moved to his position on the deck. Blood was seeping from a gash on his forehead and his right leg was bent at an odd angle.